ZURICH, Nov 20 Credit Suisse has moved
more than 1 million customers into a new Swiss bank which goes
live on Sunday, a step towards what could be Switzerland's
biggest stock market listing in more than a decade.

The creation of the new subsidiary that caters for Swiss
retail, corporate, private and investment banking clients, is
part of a broader shake-up of Credit Suisse under Chief
Executive Tidjane Thiam to focus more on wealth management and
less on volatile investment banking.

"Setting up the legal entity is a pre-condition on the way
to the IPO," Frank Schubert, project leader for the Swiss legal
entity, said, referring to the initial public offering (IPO)
plans.

Considered one of the group's crown jewels for its
profitability, its executives hope the new bank - Credit Suisse
(Schweiz) AG - could command a valuation of around 20 billion
Swiss francs ($19.8 billion), according to one source familiar
with the bank's thinking.

Credit Suisse Group has a market capitalisation of about 30
billion francs, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Credit Suisse said it was too early to give any guidance on
the valuation.

The bank hopes the listing will highlight a part of Credit
Suisse the bank believes is undervalued while also paving the
way for acquisitions of smaller Swiss banks.

The plan is for the IPO to raise 2 billion to 4 billion
francs by selling 20-30 percent of Credit Suisse (Schweiz) AG,
which is run by Credit Suisse veteran Thomas Gottstein.

A valuation at the top end of that range would make it
bigger than any Swiss initial public offering since 2001.

Investment banks are already jostling for a role on the IPO.

"Everyone is pitching hard on this one," one investment
banker said.

But Credit Suisse will need to show it can come close to
delivering on an adjusted 2018 pre-profit target for the Swiss
business of 2.3 billion francs from 1.6 billion in 2015 if it is
to list at the top end of the price range, a goal some analysts
consider overly ambitious.

Expected next year, the listing will help to fund Thiam's
broader overhaul and will also raise cash to bolster the group's
balance sheet. Thiam aims to bring the bank's main capital ratio
to 13 percent by the end of 2018. It was 12 percent at the end
of the third quarter.

GAM fund manager and Credit Suisse investor Daniel
Haeuselmann believes the need for cash is a key reason for the
listing, saying, "I think it's more a way to raise capital
without significantly diluting shareholders' investments".

Credit Suisse has said market conditions will decide the
timing of the IPO but it is currently pencilled in for the
second half of 2017.

The creation of Credit Suisse (Schweiz) AG is also part of
Swiss efforts to safeguard the country's economy from another
banking crisis by getting major banks to ring-fence parts of
their business.

Local rival UBS established a new Swiss subsidiary
in 2015.

The new legal entity going live has involved the transfer of
around 1.4 million clients into the new bank and the creation of
a board of directors. Credit Suisse will reveal at
a later stage the amount of assets transferred.

Credit Suisse (Schweiz) AG has been created mainly from the
group's Swiss universal banking business, one of three regional
divisions set up in Thiam's restructure alongside Asia Pacific
and International Wealth Management.

The bank has not yet published financial results for Credit
Suisse (Schweiz) AG, although it is expected to give more
details at an investor day on Dec. 7.

Based on numbers for the Swiss universal bank, it
contributed more than a fifth of group net revenues between 2013
and 2015.
($1 = 1.0084 Swiss francs)
(Additional reporting by Anjuli Davies and Oliver Hirt. Editing
by Jane Merriman)

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